With regard to aspect, the data available to this study show that Etulo distinguishes between inceptive, progressive and perfective aspect. In the instances in 106, the particle wà is used to indicate an action that had already been completed. The particle occupies the sentence –final position. It cannot be said that the particle marking perfective aspect immediately follows the verb owing to the exceptions observed in 106c and 106g. In all instances, wà bears a low tone
106a. ɔ̀njà ná ba wà Woman DEM come Perf That woman has come
b.Ìngìsѐ ná kyé òzû mgbán gyā wà Person DEM take house 3PLposs sell Perf That person has sold his own house
109 c.Èfu fawā M̀fo ànwutò wà.
Efu tear Afe cloth Efu has torn Afe’s cloth.
d.Efu gbɔ̀zɛ wà Efu spoke Perf Efu has spoken
e.Èyi kàkà wà 1PL arrive Perf We have arrived.
f.A gyē wà 3Pl eat Perf They have eaten.
g. Eyi gyē (ungwɔ) mí ɔkwɔ wà 1PL eat (food) PREP farm Perf We have eaten at the farm h. Èyi bā wà
1PL come perf We have come
i. Anì gye wà ISG eat perf I have eaten
j. A ngyēlū wà 3PL finish perf
110 They have finished
Other distinctions observed with reference to the duration of events are shown in 107 following. Examples 107 a-h show that the event expressed by the verb persists as at the time of speech. This is marked by lè. Example 107i represents a case of an unfulfilled event as indicated by the morpheme ki
107a. Anì lè lu ɔ̀kwɔ̀
ISG PROG go farm I am going to the farm b. Efú lè nunâ
Efu PROG sleep Efu is sleeping
c. Ani lè kyìdɔ ISG PROG do work I am working
d. Èfú lè tsε ɔnyà kyɛ̀ Efu PROG run race about Efu is running about
e. Á lè gbɔ̀dzɛ 3PL PROG talk/speak They are talking
f. Áni lè gye ungwogyē ISG PROG eat food to eat I am eating
111 g. A lè shi ɔdzέ
1PL PROG make noise They are making noise
h. Ani lè kyìdɔ ɔ̀nɔ̀ nenì 1SG PROG do work time now I am working now
i. Eyi ki lè gye ungwogyē 1PL PROG eat thing to eat We would have been eating
From the data available to the present study, one observes that the morpheme, which marks perfective aspect in Etulo, occupies the sentence final position while the morpheme that indicates progressive aspect occupies the clause medial position.
Within the RRG framework, aspect is a nuclear operator, which occupies the operator projection position in the LSC. Van Valin (2005: 8) posits that taking the nucleus as the reference point, the morphemes realizing nuclear operators should be closer to the nucleus than those expressing core and clausal operators. It therefore follows that the ordering of morphemes expressing operators with respect to the verb indicates their relative scope. In figure 12 below, we illustrate the LSC of the Etulo clause with its constituent and operator projections.
112 Figure 12 Etulo clause structure with constituent and operator projections.
The diagram in figure 12 has two projections. The top part is the constituent projection while the bottom part is the operator projection. The two projections are joined through the nucleus, which is the central element in the clause. The arrow indicates the scope of the operator. The diagram reveals that aspect is a nuclear operator in Etulo.
SENTENCE CLAUSE
CORE NUC PRED
V
Áni lè gye ungwɔ ogyē V
NUC CORE
CLAUSE
SENTENCE ASP
ARG ARG
PERIPHERY
113 3.8 Summary
This chapter presented an overview of the Etulo verb. It illustrated both the phonological and morphological features of the verb in Etulo. The verbs were grouped into attested syllable patterns. In addition, the LSC in Etulo with its constituent and operator projections as well as junctures in SVCs were illustrated.The chapter also highlighted the combinations that result in compound verbs. Etulo verbs whose meanings fully emanate from their rightmost complements were also identified. Furthermore, in this chapter, certain verbs that exhibit alternation of arguments without a change in meaning were explored. The alternation was seen as a case of privileged syntactic argument. The realization of tense and aspect were also shown in the chapter.
114 CHAPTER FOUR
AKTIONSART AND LOGICAL STRUCTURES OF ETULO VERBS 4.0 Preamble
This chapter discusses the Etulo verb aktionsart and logical structures. Section 4.1 and its succeeding subsections apply the aktionsart classification to Etulo verbs.Both lexical and sentential illustrations of each aktionsart class is provided.In addition, the section accounts for the argument structure of Etulo verbs